


Keep Your Eyes Open

by accurst_writer



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Clato Ship Week, F/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26772532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accurst_writer/pseuds/accurst_writer
Summary: Clato Ship Week day 2 - SongsEyes Open by Taylor Swift has always made me think of this pair.The whole idea of just being kids and playing and suddenly it's all too serious and too real...
Relationships: Cato/Clove (Hunger Games)
Kudos: 8





	Keep Your Eyes Open

_The tricky thing  
Is yesterday we were just children  
Playing soldiers just pretending  
Dreaming dreams with happy endings_

“And then, I’ll be a victor. We can live together and work here.”  
Clove jerked her thumb over her shoulder to point at the Academy. She might only be 8, but she and Cato had their lives planned out.   
Cato ran his hand through his hair. “Well, we need to get to training if we’re gonna be victors. C’mon, I’ll race you.”  
“You’re on, Hadley!” Clove scrambled to her feet and chased after him. “I’m gonna get you!”

_In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords_

Clove leaned against the wall, watching Cato’s training fight. Blunted weapons, as you didn’t get sharp ones in fights until you were 10. He swung the blunt sword into his opponent’s side with a loud crack, and his opponent fell to his knees. Cato punched the air, and Clove cheered. 

_But now we've stepped into a cruel world  
Where everybody stands and keeps score_

“Cato, with a score of 10. Clove, with a score of 10.”  
They both cheered and high-fived. Enobaria congratulated them. “Well, we’ve definitely got a victor this year.”  
Cato and Clove looked at each other. Only one of them could make it back. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They weren’t supposed to be in the same year. All the best-laid plans go awry.

_Keep your eyes open_

After the interviews, Clove couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow, she’d be in the arena. With Cato. And Fire Girl was outperforming them at every turn. It occurred to her that maybe neither of them would make it back. 

_Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown  
Everybody's watching to see the fallout_

As the gong sounded, she sprinted off the platform, keeping one eye on Cato. He was running too. She watched his first kill, his second. She grabbed a few knives and made her first kills too. She was the youngest of the Careers this year, but probably the most insane. The Capitol audiences had to be cheering for the bloodthirsty pair. They had to. 

_Even when you're sleeping, sleeping  
Keep your ey-eyes open_

“Your watch” Clove muttered, glad for any excuse to get Glimmer out of Cato’s arms.   
“Ugh.” Glimmer muttered, but she sat up against the tree.  
“Don’t fall asleep” warned Clove, lying down to sleep, a knife in her hand. “We don’t know what she might try.”

When the tracker-jacker nest hit the ground, Clove knew that Glimmer had fallen asleep. Maybe that’s why she shoved her over as she ran. Maybe it was jealousy. 

_So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard_

“I CANNOT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS!” Cato screamed, kicking at the ruins of their supplies. Clove sighed and rested her hand on his shoulder. “I bet it was Fire Girl. We’ll kill her. We can-“ she was cut off by two consecutive cannon booms. “Marvel.” Muttered Cato. “If he’s dead, we’re the last two in the pack. We should split soon.”

When they heard the announcement that they could both win, everything seemed right. They would go home together. 

_Every lesson forms a new scar  
They never thought you'd make it this far_

Clove ran her hand across the almost-healed tracker-jacker stings on Cato’s neck. “I’ll kill her for you. I promise. She’s gonna hurt for this.” She kissed him and whispered “Keep an eye out for Eleven for me.”  
He grinned. “Make it a good show, yeah?”  
Clove nodded resolutely, pulled a knife from her jacket, and headed in the direction of the Feast. 

_But turn around, oh they've surrounded you_

She pulled out a smaller knife and grinned. Cato’s words repeated in her head. “Make it a good show.”  
Just as she made the first cut, she was pulled into the air.  
Pinned against the Cornucopia by a guy twice her size, she knew she had no chance.

_It's a showdown and nobody comes to save you now_

One 15 year old with a short blade against a mountain of a man with a rock. She told herself she was more than just a frightened child, but only frightened children scream to be saved.   
“CATO! CATO!”  
He was too far away. He wasn’t going to make it in time to save her. She would die here. 

_But you've got something they don't  
Yeah you've got something they don't_

Thresh was taller and probably stronger than Cato, he knew. But Cato was desperate. Hunting for vengeance. Thresh hadn’t lost his only friend, but Cato had. And vengeance is more dangerous than any weapon. 

_You've just gotta keep your eyes open_

It took Cato a day and a half to track Thresh down in the field, and he didn’t sleep at all. If he closed his eyes, he saw Clove’s face. When he found Thresh, he was happy. 

_Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown  
Everybody's watching to see the fallout_

He was broken. He knew that, but he didn’t care. He grinned as he poked Thresh awake with a knife. “Bet you wish you hadn’t gone to sleep now, huh?”  
When he was finished, Thresh was barely recognisable. And very dead.   
Cato got the armour. Both sets. He left hers in the field. It didn’t matter now. 

_Even when you're sleeping, sleeping  
Keep your ey-eyes open_

He had been asleep when the wolf mutts attacked. Seeing Clove die over and over. He was up and running instantly. This had to be the finale. And anything that kept those thoughts away was good enough now. 

_Keep your ey-eyes open_

The mutt jumping at the side of the Cornucopia had her eyes, and he couldn’t quite look away.   
When he hit the ground, she was attacking him, but he never looked away. 

_Keep your ey-eyes open_

He lived for another 8 hours. He didn’t even pass out, and in the mass of wolves, never lost sight of her until he died.


End file.
